Notable Quotables - 11/20/2006

Democrat Win = “Fantastic News”

Hotline’s Chuck Todd: “Our line here is about 25 or 30 House seats [for the Democrats]. If it gets over 25 or 30 House seats, you’re going to see six Senate seats....”MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: “Well, that’ll be fantastic news. It’ll be huge news, I should say, because if that happens, then we have a government run by the Democrats, and an executive branch run by the Republicans, President George W. Bush, having to actually negotiate every aspect of national policy, including the war in Iraq.”— Exchange at about 7:36pm EST during MSNBC’s election night coverage, November 7. (With WMV video clip/MP3 audio)

“The Democratic wave that washed over American politics last night washed away Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and swamped many Republicans who tried to use the issue of illegal immigration to scare people into voting for them. I am delighted to say that they got their butts kicked.”— Fox’s Geraldo Rivera, Geraldo at Large, November 8.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for her [Democrat Nancy Pelosi] and a great opportunity for women. I think one of the most stunning, most iconic pictures we’ll see on television in the next year is the State of the Union address, where you have Dick Cheney, who has got that sort of, you know, fire hydrant build sitting there with that very distinguished snarl of his, and then this incredibly interesting person next, a woman, first time ever sitting behind the President sharing power with the American government. It’s going to be an amazing moment.”— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on election night, Nov. 7.

Blaming “Far Right” Conservatives

“The country is sending a signal to both parties: We want you guys to work together to solve problems. You’ve got Republicans running from the far right much more toward the center. You’ve got a new breed of Democrats this year in Jim Webb in Virginia and Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, moving toward the center. So we may be working our way toward the end of a deeply polarized country politically at the national level.”— Former anchor Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News November 6, election eve.

“Will Republicans move further to the right? Not if they got the message of the election. Republicans lost because they abandoned the center.”— CNN’s Bill Schneider on The Situation Room, Nov. 8.

Yearning for President Obama

“You can see it in the crowds. The thrill, the hope. How they surge toward him. You’re looking at an American political phenomenon. In state after state, in the furious final days of this crucial campaign, Illinois Senator Barack Obama has been the Democrat’s not-so-secret get-out-the-vote weapon. He inspires the party faithful and many others, like no one else on the scene today...And the question you can sense on everyone’s mind, as they listen so intently to him, is he the one? Is Barack Obama the man, the black man, who could lead the Democrats back to the White House and maybe even unite the country?...Every-where he goes, people want him to run for President, especially in Iowa, cradle of presidential contenders. Around here, they’re even naming babies after him.”— ABC Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran, November 6.

Celebrating a Feminist First

“Let’s talk about history, because I know history was riding along with you as you watched the results last night. I know you have thought today about your mother. I know you have thought today about your father, your own children and grandchildren.”— NBC’s Brian Williams interviewing House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi for the November 8 Nightly News.

Anchor Katie Couric: “You will be the first woman Speaker of the House and the highest ranking woman in the United States government. What does that mean to you?”Nancy Pelosi: “It’s pretty exciting, I have to say. I’m just so excited that a Democrat will be Speaker of the House.”Couric: “So you’re a Democrat first, a woman second?”— Interview on the CBS Evening News, November 8.

Next Step: Bush’s Impeachment

“What happens to President Bush if the Republicans lose their grip on power? This President has pulled off a power grab in the name of the war on terror the likes of which this country hasn’t seen in a very long time. And in the process, people who are a lot smarter than I am suggest that he has broken this nation’s laws over and over and over again....If we are indeed a nation of laws then presumably that applies to President Bush as much as it does to you or to me. Now Bill Clinton, you’ll recall, was impeached for telling a lie. Here’s the question: ‘If the Republicans lose the election Tuesday, what should happen to President Bush?’”— CNN’s Jack Cafferty on The Situation Room, Nov. 2. (With WMV video clip/MP3 audio)

Bush Behind “Domestic Terror”

“We have institutionalized the terrorizing of the opposition. True domestic terror. Critics of your administration in the media, sir, receive letters filled with fake anthrax....Of course, Mr. President, you did none of these things. You instructed no one to mail the fake anthrax, nor undermine the FBI’s case, nor call for the execution of the editors of the New York Times....The genius of the thing is the same as in King Henry’s rhetorical question about Archbishop Thomas Becket: ‘Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?’ All you have to do, sir, is hand out enough new canes. I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck.”— Conclusion of Keith Olbermann’s “Special Comment” on MSNBC’s Countdown, November 1. (With WMV video clip/MP3 audio)

If He’s Joking, It’s Not Funny

“I think that Keith Olbermann may become a model for the newscast of the future.”— MSNBC General Manager Dan Abrams, as quoted in a November 12 column by San Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius.

A “Jerk and a War Criminal”

“‘The time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard, bruising truth. Donald Rumsfeld must go.’ That is a quote from an editorial in this week’s Military Times news-papers....‘His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the Secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.’ They didn’t even mention that he’s also an obnoxious jerk and a war criminal.”— CNN’s Jack Cafferty on The Situation Room, Nov. 6. Cafferty later admitted he’d “stepped over the line.”

Shame on Democrats’ Shoulders

Host Matt Lauer: “He [Senator John Kerry] made a joke, he says he blew the joke and inadvertently sounded as though he questioned the intelligence of U.S. troops in Iraq. Look me in the eye and tell me, if, with even a fraction of your heart, you think John Kerry meant to question the intelligence of U.S. troops in Iraq.”Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card: “Well, he’s had a past bias that would allow people to believe that....Even more significantly, it’s the Democrats that have said, ‘John Kerry stay home.’”Lauer: “And, by the way, I think a lot of Democrats should have shame on their shoulders, because they ran away from this guy, as opposed to standing up and saying it was just a mistake.”— NBC’s Today, November 3.

But She Hid It So Well

“I’m a liberal, I was born a liberal, and I will be a liberal ‘til the day I die.”— Longtime UPI White House reporter Helen Thomas, now a columnist for Hearst newspapers, in a Q&A published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, November 5.

ABC Boss Admits Media Bias

Host Hugh Hewitt: “And so everyone that you work with, or 95 percent of people you work with, are old liberals.”ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin: “I don’t know if it’s 95 percent, and unfortunately, they’re not all old. There are a lot of young liberals here, too. But it certainly, there are enough in the old media, not just in ABC, but in old media generally, that it tilts the coverage quite frequently, in many issues, in a liberal direction, which is completely improper....It’s an endemic problem. And again, it’s the reason why for 40 years, conservatives have rightly felt that we did not give them a fair shake.”— Exchange on The Hugh Hewitt Show, October 30.

Bush: “Retarded Child Emperor”

“When they say the ‘terrorists want the Democrats to win,’ you say ‘are you insane? George Bush has been a terrorist’s wet dream.’...When they say that actual combat veterans like John Kerry are ‘denigrating the troops,’ you say ‘you’re completely full of sh*t.’...If I was a troop, the support I would want back home would mainly come in the form of people pressuring Washington to get me out of this pointless nightmare. [applause] That’s how I would feel supported....There’s your talking point. Vote Republican and you vote to enable George Bush to keep ruling as an emperor — a retarded child emperor [laughter], but an emperor.”— Bill Maher on his HBO program Real Time with Bill Maher November 3, offering his suggested “talking points” for Democratic candidates. (With WMV video clip/MP3 audio)

Mom and Pop Terrorists

Co-host Rosie O’Donnell: “You have two choices in life, Elisabeth. Faith or fear. Faith or fear, that’s your choice. You can walk through life believing in the goodness of the world or walk through life afraid of anyone who thinks different than you and trying to convert them to your way of thinking. And I think that this country-”Co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck: “Well, I’m a person of faith, so I, but I also believe-”O’Donnell: “Well, then, get away from the fear. Don’t fear the terrorists. They’re mothers and fathers.”— Exchange on ABC’s The View, November 9. (With WMV video clip/MP3 audio)

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